In recent years, a type of meditation with deep Buddhist roots, known by various names such as “mindfulness” or “mindful meditation”, has become fashionable. There are many Christians who, unaware of what this type of meditation hides, practice it in a similar way to Christian prayer. At first the danger is not perceived, but over time it can have terrible consequences in our lives, and especially for the faith of a Christian.
The first thing to distinguish is that prayer and meditation are not the same thing.
Meditation is a way of thinking about something, a situation, events or our whole life in general. It is a way of finding oneself. Something very necessary nowadays when we are immersed in an accelerated rhythm and with a lot of noise around us that prevents us from thinking. But together with meditation we must not forget prayer.
Prayer is an encounter with the Other who is not me, it is a going out of myself to have a direct relationship with God. Christians, knowing that God is our Father, turn to him through prayer, making us transcend beyond this material world. In this way, we can not only experience great tranquility and inner peace, but also discern God’s will in our lives.
Meditating on the Word of God is another way in which Christians enrich ourselves and increase our faith.
However, the meditation that is done through New Age has nothing to do with our relationship with God.
The different techniques introduce you to the Buddhist or Hindu world, which, far from what they apparently show us with a monk with a face of not having broken a plate in his life, we find spiritual practices that can introduce us to the world of occultism, esotericism and Satanism. Its roots are related to the dark practices of Freemasonry at the end of the 19th century.[1]
It may sound far-fetched, but more and more testimonies and studies are showing this harsh reality.[2] The increase in states of anxiety and depression among those who have practiced it assiduously is the evidence.
The purpose of New Age meditation is to reach Nirvana, which involves detachment from our self, our being, merging with another being from beyond, a kind of energy. We are taught to despise our body, which is totally against our Christian religion, since we are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Such meditation distances you from God because it makes you focus on yourself, in a selfish individualism, looking for relaxation and well-being far from the peace that the Holy Spirit gives us. But it also distances you from the acceptance of suffering, that is, from the Cross. And a Christian cannot exist without the cross, it is our sign and what opens the doors to Eternal life.
On the other hand, a Buddhist will always try to flee from suffering by seeking that pleasurable earthly life, hence he ignores sin and, above all, Jesus Christ as the Son of God who saves us and frees us from that slavery. It is not us by means of our forces that can cleanse that evil. We are not the ones who can achieve full relaxation. Alone we cannot, we need God, our Father, in our life, and New Age meditation prevents us from reaching him.
[1] https://www.aciprensa.com/sectas/nuevaera.htm
[2] https://www.religionenlibertad.com/polemicas/61626/mindfulness-nueva-moda-meditacion-compatible-.html